While I was never a very big video game player, I have enjoyed playing sports games. I am not too ashamed to say that if I find myself losing a game to the computer, I sometimes just hit the “reset” button so that I can start over fresh.

Yes, I know. A shocking confession, right?

The great thing about the reset button is that it wiped the slate clean. I can start the game over with a new strategy, a new approach. I am no longer saddled with the mistakes I made. I am free to go whatever direction the game takes me without any of the baggage that came from before.

Being “born again” is like hitting the reset button on life.

In His conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus tells us that the only way to experience the Kingdom is to be born again. Christians today tend to think of this in terms of receiving forgiveness for sins, and this is indeed a part of it. But then, He talks about the movement of the Spirit, and how we cannot see where the Spirit is coming from or going. Then He tells us it is the same for those who are born again. What is He talking about?

When I look at my children, I dream about what it is they will become, but I have no idea. They could literally end up anywhere, which is both exciting and terrifying.

Being born again as children of God means that the game starts over, that we are no longer saddled with what has come before. God invites us into an entirely new reality where all of our old priorities are replaced with the will of God. We see the Kingdom of God for what it truly is, and we are free to go whatever direction the Spirit leads us in without any of the baggage that came before.

And what is this new direction?

For each person, it will look different, but we can know for sure that it will mean following Jesus in the everyday, loving God with our whole being, and loving and serving our neighbor as ourselves.

In Christ, God has hit the reset button on your life and pressed start on a new game for you. Quit trying to take back the controller.